


Heart to Heart

by TheIcyQueen



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Pre-Kingdom Hearts III, Prompt Fill, Spoilers, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 12:55:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17663054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIcyQueen/pseuds/TheIcyQueen
Summary: On the best of days, their conversations quickly turned into arguments. Even always had too much to say, Ienzo never had patience enough to listen. This would have to be different, though. This talk was too important.





	Heart to Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fill for big-friendly-birb on tumblr! You can find me on tumblr as "queenofbaws," and my inbox is always open.
> 
> Important note! This was written BEFORE I played KH3, so forgive me that not EVERYTHING is accurate (and in all honesty I still haven't beaten the game yet so in a way I'm still in the dark).

He swept into the library, the air frenzied around him. Typically, there was something elegant about the way the lab coat flared out behind him as he walked, particularly when he was walking with _purpose_ , but there was nothing elegant about the way he’d pushed his sleeves up or tied his hair back out of his face–and there was _certainly_ nothing elegant about the way he’d taken to yanking books off of their shelves.

“All right…” Ienzo spoke in low tones as though to soothe himself, flipping through one book and then another, tossing each onto a nearby table when they failed to meet his needs. “Alllllll right. I know it’s here…it’s just…been a good, long while since I’ve used…this filing system…” He sighed, ruffling an errant fringe of hair. “But it’s _here_ ,” he repeated quietly, shuffling to the next shelf. “It’s _here_.”

“Ienzo.”

At the suddenness of the voice, he all but jumped out of his skin. Immediately his face reddened with a heady combination of embarrassment and indignation; it hadn’t been an easy adjustment, feeling fear again. It was hardly becoming of someone who had once been considered the terror that lived in Oblivion’s basements. “ _Even_.” He huffed his exasperation out through his nose, turning back to the books. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“We need to talk, Ienzo.”

The noise that escaped him at that was just as embarrassing as his gasp, albeit in an entirely different way. His laugh was strained and brittle, hardly human by anyone’s standards. It was a fearful sound in its own right, tinged with exhaustion and anxiety. “There is no _time_ to _talk_ , Even,” he muttered, pulling another book down, eyes scanning its table of contents. Still wrong. He threw it onto the table with the growing pile, using his foot to hook a step-stool over. “I don’t know if you’ve been _outside_ recently–I know you _so_ detest the sunlight–but things are _happening_. Big things. Monumental things. _Impossible_ things, Even.” He opened and shut another book, grabbing yet another and another. “Help me, I’m looking for–”

But Even did not move from his spot in Ienzo’s periphery, standing still as a corpse. From the vague shape of his posture, Ienzo thought he likely had his arms folded across his chest. He didn’t have _time_ to look over, though. None at all. Everything he needed to know was in Even’s voice, dripping tired reproach. The tone was parental, and in a past life, would’ve driven Ienzo up a wall; however, he was already _up_ the shelf, so there really wasn’t anywhere else to go. “Ienzo.”

He let out another strange, apprehensive laugh, shaking his head. “Did you know Ansem’s back? _Ansem_. He’s…here.” His throat was suddenly very dry, working twice as hard as it usually did when he tried to swallow. “He’s _alive_ , and he’s _here_ , and…and I _need_ to find this _book_ , because I remember it having everything we needed for–”

“Ienzo. _”  
_

Again, he shook his head, opening another book and coughing through the cloud of dust that burst from its yellowed pages. “ _Ansem_ is back, Aeleus is… _beside_ himself, and I’m already so behind finishing that project I had begun for Sora and–”

“ _Ienzo_.”

The sharpness of Even’s voice caught him off his guard, and it was only by luck that he managed to keep himself from falling off the stool. “ _What?!”_ he snapped back, whirling to face Even properly. In an instant, he felt the blood drain from his face, felt the book he’d pressed to his chest fall to the floor and thump shut, felt his newly regained heart skip an uncomfortable beat. He simply stared down at Even for a long while, the library’s silence pressing down on them from all sides, making him feel as though he’d begun to drown in air. 

“We need to _talk_ ,” Even repeated, looking up at him with calm, impassive amber eyes.

Ienzo blinked, forgetting how to breathe. “Yes,” he managed to say, voice little more than a whisper. “I suppose we do.”

 


End file.
